Phoneys & The Freaks – ‘Phoneys & The Freaks EP’

Score

Former Oasis guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs met Weston-Super-Mare singer-songwriter Alex Lipinski when he supported Bonehead’s other band, Parlour Flames. Impressed, he invited Lipinski to collaborate and this rather soulless EP is the result. Unfortunately, their enthusiastic appreciation of each other’s work doesn’t come across on record; the four sanitised tracks here offer nothing new or necessary. ‘Writing On The Walls’’ attempt at stirring balladry doesn’t quite connect, soft finger-picking and atmospheric guitar slides dulled by Lipinski’s voice, while the title track is as MOR as they come, acoustic strums meandering on their way to nowhere. Greatness may lie in Bonehead’s past, but this new endeavour doesn’t match up.